


we could be happy forever and after

by itiswhatitisbutterfly



Series: vows [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, harry getting upset when he isnt called harry tomlinson, i blame harry, louis fond teasing has rubbed off on all of the kids and harry adores it, oh and they also unironically call themselves team tommo, they have six kids i went overboard i know, twin boys who steal the dream team title, we've got a moody preteen daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-11 17:31:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1175880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itiswhatitisbutterfly/pseuds/itiswhatitisbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are six Tomlinson children. Which means six beds, six seats in the car, six school bags, six Christmas stockings and six stars on Harry’s right arm. </p><p>The Tomlinson's also include  two husbands, a dog and a cat. But the kids outnumber everyone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we could be happy forever and after

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I am praying one day Harry and Louis have a Brangelina sized family.  
> Just picture Harry in those yellow shoes and black jeans and Louis with his dad hair.  
> The kids are as follows because I know how annoying it can get when you don't know their ages or names: 
> 
> (Mackenzie 13, Liberity (Libby) 10, Grayson and Elliot 8, Addison 6, Peyton 2)
> 
> Naming someone else's children for them is very strange also this is sickeningly sweet I blame Harry.  
> Most of the shit the kids do in here is inspired by stuff my siblings do (I have five kids in my family yay and there were always a lot of broken plates.)
> 
> Russian translation here: ficbook.net/readfic/1891966
> 
>  _"That's what everyone's said about life after One Direction. Just...kids. Whenever it stops we're all just going to pop out like six kids. Bang." ___\- Harry Styles

There are six points on the Star of David.

The atomic number of carbon is six.

There are six members on a volleyball team.

The highest number you can roll on a dice is six.

There is said to only be six degrees of separation between any two people in the world.

There are six Tomlinson children. Which means six beds, six seats in the car, six school bags, six Christmas stockings and six stars on Harry’s right arm.

The Tomlinson’s also include two husbands, a dog and a cat. But the kids outnumber everyone else.

“Do I actually have to go to school?” Mackenzie Tomlinson pleads over the breakfast table.

She pouts to the best of her ability as she swirls her cornflakes around in her bowl. Why do they always eat cereal? Why do they have a cereal cupboard? She doesn’t know a single other family who has a cereal cupboard but then she also doesn’t know anyone with a kitchen as big as theirs.

Why is her family so strange?

“Why do we always have cereal? Can’t we have eggs papa?” Libby asks, reading her older sisters mind.

“You don’t want me to make you eggs, trust me,”  Louis says laughing, as he pours a bowl for each of the twins, who have been separated and are sitting on either sides of the table fidgeting at each other. Grayson and Elliot seem to always think getting ready for school is equal to play time and play time is equal to mock fighting and rolling around in dirt with the their dog.

Mackenzie perks up, “Lets practice making eggs! I’ll stay home it’ll be fun."

“No Mac, get out of your PJ’s, put your uniform on, you aren’t getting out of it today," Harry says as he rushes into the kitchen with Peyton perched on his hip.  Her little curls have been tamed into two small pigtails that will probably be pulled out before lunch, but Louis notes that it's nice her hair has been tamed for once. He hands her a sippy cup with a greeting to his favourite girl and gives Harry a peck on his cheek and a murmured morning now that they are both actually awake and not zombies.

Friday mornings are always fun.

“Hello! Hello, hi hi,” Addison Tomlinson says as she runs into the kitchen a flurry of activity and sunshine greeting her siblings. She drags her Disney princess backpack along the floor next to her and anyone in the room can tell she dressed herself this morning. She has chosen spotted tights, a flowery dress, a purple coat and a rainbow headscarf. Louis makes sure he hands over her special bowl of cereal with its chopped up bananas in it and not the ones without and a good morning to his favourite little lady. 

And that makes eight.

Mackenzie continues to pout in her early teenage angst.  She is just at that stage. She takes it out on her cornflakes.

They have talked about it a million times. It is just a phase. And she is being a moody thirteen year old, confused by angst about her life. It’s just sometimes it's hard making friends when everyone already thinks they know who you are. It’s also hard to make friends with five other siblings and two dads who like to interferer. And sometimes you just wish your hair wouldn't do that weird flicky fringe thing (and your arms wouldn't be so gangly). 

Elliot pokes Libby, who then hits Grayson,  who tries to flick milk from his cereal bowl at Libby which actually ends up on Mackenzie.  From under the table their golden retriever Rocky barks.

And that is when breakfast time loses its first casualties.

“Gray that isn’t funny!” Mackenzie shouts across the dining room table, teeth bared at her younger brothers.

“Excuse me," Addison says mouth full of banana and now standing upon her seat proudly, “inside voices, please.”

“Grayson apologize," Harry says even with his back is to everyone, he doesn’t need to look he just knows this all too well. It’s hard to concentrate whilst putting Peyton’s gloves and scarf on her, but he knows this scene he has seen it many times. 

Louis, who had left the room for about three seconds, pokes his head back through the door with a knowing look. 

Elliot and Grayson are high fiving and giggling while Libby tries to console her older sister and prevent her from pulling someone’s hair out.

“Boys, we’ve talked about this!” Louis says while pulling his jacket on. The thing is you high five your kid _once_ for doing something cute and next thing you know they are doing it all the time and you are fearing you’ve raised brats. Louis constantly feels pity for his mother, he now realises what a pain Tomlinson’s are.

Harry frowns trying to pull everyone’s empty plates off the table and put them into the sink slightly passive aggressively. 

“Addison sit down please, off the chair,“ he says to the six year old standing on her chair hands on hips.

“Mackenzie go put your uniform on, you are leaving here in ten minutes. Boys apologize, to both of your sisters,” Louis continues leaving the room to go up stairs.

“Sorry Mackenzie, sorry Liberity,” they mumble out together.

“Don’t call me that!” Liberity shouts lunging forward over the table. A plate goes flying and Addison starts crying.

The name thing is a bit of a problem. Liberity Anne Tomlinson was perfectly fine with her name until she turned ten, now it was apparently Libby or nothing. Probably another phase they have in their hands. 

Harry frowns. At least Peyton isn’t crying. Yet. 

Libby looks shocked and upset over her outburst and the broken plate before her.  Her bottom lip wobbles and she looks up at her father.

“Sorry daddy,” she says, it’s barely audible over Addison’s crying.

“What was that?” Louis shouts from upstairs.

“Plate,” Harry shouts back.

“All of you are so close to not coming to the football match! I’m not joking.”

“He is being serious,” Harry says with _complete_ seriousness. Charity football matches have never been attended without every Tomlinson in attendance since Mackenzie was barely a month old. It is an empty threat. The kids probably don't know that though.

“Nice one guys,” Mackenzie says as she hops of her chair, angry and still in her pyjama’s.

“You put your uniform on. You two grab your bags and put the dog away. You apologize,” Harry says with a point to each child and a smile to top it off.

He hands Peyton to Libby who wouldn’t dare do anything out of line now. He scoops Addison up from her seat cuddling her close.

“You finished your breakfast yet baby?”

Addison nods as her tears lessen. He wipes her leftover tears away with his thumb trying to calm her down.

“What do you have to say to Addison Lib?”

“Sorry Addy, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she says quietly.

Addison smiles, always ready to accept an apology warmly. “That’s okay, I know you didn't."

Harry places her back on the ground and fixes the knot on her headscarf, “Now put your shoes on. Lou, five minutes!”

Harry hears a far off ‘Shit!’ come from upstairs followed by Mackenzie shouting ‘Jar!’

Libby hands Harry Peyton, so she can also put on her shoes. He quickly slips Peyton’s on her wriggling feet and stands her by the front door sippy cup in one hand and sliced up apples in the other.

He smiles a bit seeing Libby helping Addison put on her shoes then remembers there are bits of broken plate on one side of the table.

It’s probably sad that that is such a normal occurrence it doesn’t really faze him one bit. A broken plate is a broken plate, better that then one of the boys falling out of a tree again. It’s going to be easier to deal with it later Harry thinks as he ignores it in favour of making sure the twins are ready to go.

“Ellie are you ready?”

Elliot runs down the stairs with Grayson following quickly behind, they are definitely ready to go wearing their matching respective Spiderman and Iron Man backpacks.

“Yes!” Elliot says standing up straight at the bottom of the stairs.

“Grayson ready?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, shoes on then,” Harry says.

Right on time, as if she knows she is pushing it Mackenzie makes her way down the stairs into the foyer. She finally has her uniform on and her hair tied up. She doesn’t wear a backpack like the rest of her siblings, she has her shoulder bag she begged her Aunt Gemma for. And Harry can totally tell she is wearing eyeliner, which means he will probably be getting another letter about uniform requirements again.

Harry’s internal headcount tells him he has all of them. All six ready for school just in time. However, now comes the hard part.

“Okay, you guys all know the drill,” he says as he picks Peyton up who is holding hands with Addison, “Hugs, kisses and then you have to hop in the car.”

The usual suspect starts crying immediately. Liberity turns away from her brothers and sisters and starts sobbing.

The thing is Harry and Louis learnt a long time ago that when one of them has to leave even for a short trip they are as weak as anything. It used to be tradition a long time ago that whenever daddy or papa had to go away family airport send offs were perfectly acceptable.

Then having an entire car load of crying kids got old quickly. So did children lying on airport floors crying and trying to climb past security. Apparently no matter how cute they are, Tomlinson’s aren’t allowed to breach airport security. But the worst thing was when they were able to convince each other to just give up and take a family working holiday in the spur of the moment (“Who cares if they miss a week of school!” “Their teachers probably”)

“Louis,” Harry says tentatively directed up the stairs and down the hall.

The foyer is filled with very sad faces now and one crying ten year old.

Louis appears with a forced smile on his face. “Why all the sad faces?”

“I’m first, “Mackenzie says, implying oldest goes first as usual.

She throws herself into her father’s arms and is engulfed into a hug. Because she might be a bit teenage angsty but she is still a softie at heart. Harry knows she will pretend not to miss him but will deep down. Like the little moments when there is no one to help her with her maths homework on Tuesday or to surprise her with hot chocolate after netball practice on Wednesday. 

“Don’t be too naughty, and no boys,“ Louis says both to Mackenzie and to Harry who just shrugs because they both know Harry totally would to try just to validate his cool dad status (“You’re not a ‘cool dad’ dad! Last time my friends came over you tried to feed them fruit kebabs!”)

And with a kiss on her head Mackenzie leaves out the front door. Louis totally spots her wipe her eyes on her way out.

“Libby?” Louis asks.

She shakes her head and responds, “No, I’m last.”

Harry tries not to pout in response to that. Once upon a time Harry Tomlinson used to get the last goodbye and then he had strong willed children that stole it from him.

He guesses when you marry someone and they tell you they are going to love you the most out of anyone in the world they are lying. It has an expiration date. They are going to love your kids more than you. But it’s okay, because you’ll love them more as well.  

It’s onto the boys instead then. They both promise to be good and Louis promises to go in the fort with them when he gets home. And with two hugs and two kisses they are off.

Then it is Addison’s turn. Harry can’t hear a thing they say to each other though; their conversation is in whispers into each other’s ears while Louis holds her tight. Addison doesn’t cry but Harry will put money on her crying tonight when Papa isn’t here to read her a bed time story. So with a kiss on her cheek her and her Disney princess backpack are off into the car.

Peyton gets a cuddle and a few kisses but she is more interested in her apple slices and Louis jacket than anything else.

It’s Harry’s turn then. He is supposed to keep up a strong front but he is totally incapable of not being a huge sap.

“It’s only a week,” Louis says as he lets his hand run through the back of Harry’s hair and pulls him close.

It’s true, a week is nothing compared to the sort of long haul trips and tours they have had to do before.

They hold each other are close as possible for a few moments despite the small child between them because that has been a normal occurrence for a long time now.

“I know,” Harry says quietly, “It’s just not as fun doing this without you.”

So with a few kisses and quiet ‘I love you’s’ Harry lets go of him and hands him over to Libby.

She might not be as small as the others but she still gets the same treatment. She probably needs it more anyway Harry would argue. Her dad holds her close to his chest as she tries to stop her new influx of tears.

“It’s only a week,” he says again.

“Will you miss me?”

“Of course.”

“Be safe please,” she whispers into his collar.

He smiles down at his overly emotional, caring and protective girl. He thinks she only knows how to love with her whole heart and nothing less will do.

“I always am. When I get back we can set up the goals in the backyard and practice your football,” he punctuates it with a few kisses to her head.

For a moment it doesn’t look like she will let go but eventually she does and doesn’t have to be pried off. With a few sniffles she retreats to the car (where her siblings will laugh before comforting her with reminders they can help put the nets up if needed). 

“I’ll call you when I land,” Louis says to Harry who sneaks an extra kiss out of him.

He smiles closing the front door leaving him standing in the foyer with his suitcases and depressing disposition.

“We’ll probably still be in the studio.”

“I’ll call anyway, you know me,” he says with a forced smile.

“Yeah, I know. Love you,” Harry says with a wink closing the door. He definitely knows they are going to be late to school. But that is pretty normal and to be expected around here. He can sweet talk the kids teachers into letting it slide anyway with a batch of muffins.

The troops seem to have sullenly taken their orders Harry notes as he leans over the back seat of the range rover to put Peyton in her seat. They all appear quiet and abnormally sad.

“It’s only a week,” Harry sing songs as he closes the door and opens another.

Mackenzie scoffs at him from her spot in the passenger seat one headphone in her ear and drumming her fingers on the window.

“You don’t see me crying,” Harry jokes.

Just like he expected everyone in the car starts laughing and shouting at once.

“Ten quid for tomorrow at breakfast!” Mackenzie shouts at her brothers.

They might be young but they are smart and keenly think about it for a second. Elliot shakes his head after their silent conversation, “Okay but we say cutting vegetables for dinner tomorrow.”

“I’m not that bad,” Harry says under his breath. That only happened once.

Instead he focuses on driving out of the driveway and down the road. He grumbles a bit under his breath when he seeing a dark suspicious looking car parked on the other side of the road. No matter how many injunctions and orders you get someone is always willing to push the boundaries. If he didn’t have a car load of children he might have actually stopped just to try and make them feel guilty. There are more important things to worry about however because some things never change. He ignores it and focuses on the topic of conversation in the car.

Libby who has finally stopped crying and is rather laughing now shouts, “He is going to cheat! Dad will cry as soon as we all get out of this car.”

Mackenzie rolls her eyes, “Yes but the rules clearly state it’s the first time he cries in front of one of us.”

Grayson whispers in Addison’s ear who gives him a confused face and says, “Facetime?”

Libby gasps from the back seats. Mackenzie twists her head entirely and leans over the back of her seat.

“That’s cheating! You can’t help her.”

Libby groans, “That is the perfect answer. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“It’s not cheating she needs a little help Mac,” Harry says placing a hand on her shoulder, “Sit properly in your seat.”

“She’s going to win now,” she says punctuated with a cold look to her brothers in the back seat.

“You can’t win them all,” Harry says patting her head. She answers him simply with an eye roll.

“Do I get to have a guess?” Harry asks instead.

“No!” Elliot shouts.

“Ruins the fun,” Libby adds.

Harry guesses that makes sense and all. He figures when they brag about this to Louis later he will be allowed a guess, Mackenzie should probably know he will get it right. Harry will probably cry when he has to set one less seat at the table tomorrow and Louis knows it.

“Shall we listen to some music then?” He says instead to try and distract them from tears.

Mackenzie waves her phone up in the air and says, “Let’s listen to my favourite new band Calico Dragons”

Harry is intrigued but the rest of the car isn’t it appears. They make so much noise about it that Peyton starts crying which is a feat in itself, she had been so good the entire morning.

Luckily Mackenzie is seconds away from hoping out of the car. She just throws her hands up in the air and says, “You all have horrible taste in music. I bet you’d prefer ‘One Direction: The Greatest Hits’ you all spend too much time with Uncle Niall.”

She throws her phone in her pocket and grabs her bag.

“Bye! Have a good day,” Harry says as his oldest daughter opens the door and slides out.

She gives them all a weak smile as her littlest brothers and sisters wave from the back seats.

“Bye,” she simply offers.

“Bye my little bird!” Harry says just because he can’t control himself or resist.

She looks mortified and turns her head to make sure no one has heard before she closes the door and darts off into the gates and into the crowds.

“When will Mackenzie come back to our school?” Addison inquires.

“That is her school now love, she’s at big school.”

Addison’s brow furrows and she asks, “But I go to big school now.”

“She goes to an even bigger school.”

The topic of Mackenzie being at secondary school is supposed to be banned in the house. No one likes to make Harry cry about his littlest bird being such a grown up.

“We’re really late,” Libby says, stating the obvious. 

“It’s fine, it’s really fine don’t worry,” Harry says as he turns the engine off in the car park.

 

The day is pretty slow after that. Harry and his best buddy Peyton do some shopping, visit Aunt Gemma and then spend two hours at the studio where someone takes a long nap.

Louis calls like he promised but Harry misses it like he knew he would. He gets lots of nice messages filled with sad face emoji’s and pictures so he can't be that upset.

It’s late afternoon when Harry realises it's Friday and he doesn’t want to spend the weekend stuck up in the house. However a three hour drive with six kids in the car doesn’t sound that appealing. He knows if Louis was here he wouldn’t even doubt it, he would just do it or be very easily convinced he could do it. Louis is like that Harry thinks, he could convince Harry that with him by his side he could do anything and everything.

So Harry decides for it against his better judgement.  They will travel up to Cheshire tonight to see Harry’s parents and their grandparents.

Back when Mackenzie and Liberity were little it used to be a regular occurrence staying at Anne’s. Then after the twins were born it wasn’t as easy. The house just wasn’t big enough for four kids (although Anne would always argue it didn’t matter) so they bought a house. It wasn’t huge like their house in London, or fancy like the one in LA. It was homey and spacious with lots of backyard and room to breathe and that was all they wanted and it was close to Anne’s.

But four kids wasn’t enough for Harry Tomlinson, so alas they grew some more. They still fit the house of course, the twins can always share a room. It just meant it was a lot of effort to drive up.

Harry is still only pondering the idea when he asks them all on the way home from school.

“How do we feel about going up to Cheshire?”

The immediate response is definitely positive. It is definitely a yes then.

 

When they get home they start packing immediately. It’s only two days so they only need to pack lightly but some people don’t seem to comprehend that rule.

“You don’t need the nurf guns,” Harry says hands on hips looking at Elliot and Grayson’s innocent expressions.

“We do though,” Elliot argues.

“Are they a necessity?”

“Yes,” Grayson says.

Harry gives in too easily and says, “Okay, well as long as you don’t shoot anyone while we’re driving.”

It’s then that Mackenzie rolls a massive suitcase past the door as if she is packing for a month long vacation.

“Mac that bag is not going to fit in the car!”

“Yes it will, I’ll force it to,” she calls back happily from down the hall.

It doesn’t fit and she cries on the driveway about how unfair life is when she has to downsize.

Surprisingly the car ride isn’t as bad as expected. The usual suspects drop of quickly into soft slumbers in the back seat after a long day of being at school and the excitement of the trip itself wearing them out.

Mackenzie gets to play her music and Harry gets to listen. Libby protests a little bit quietly and so does Elliot until he falls asleep with his brother.

“Papa wasn’t serious about us not being allowed to go to the charity match right?” Libby asks from the back seat quietly mindful of those around her.

“No, I don’t think he would be able to play without all his cheerleaders there.”

“You sure?” Mackenzie says from the passenger seat.

Harry nods. “Very sure. Although the point still stands, you all need to think about your behaviour.”

Libby leans back into her seat hiding her face away.

“You want to talk about school Mackenzie?”

Mackenzie looks at her father and shakes her head, “I’d rather not.”

“Okay, well you can always talk to me about it if you want to.”

"I know."

 

The twins wake up as soon as the car stops moving. It’s easy to transfer sleeping Peyton into her bed without waking her. But as soon as Addison is touched she smiles up at her daddy and says, “Hello.”

They all feel entirely too lazy to do anything but eat dinner around the television. Harry notes a few too many yawns sounding and decides it is probably better to facetime Louis now rather than later and have to put up with pouting faces tomorrow morning.

“Alright sleepyheads how about we give papa a call?”

Elliot gives a dejected, “Heeey, we aren’t sleepy,” but still follows the rest of his siblings to climb into and around Harry’s lap.

Louis picks up straight away expecting the call out of habit.

“Hello!” he says sitting on a hotel bed in Sweden waving at the tiny phone camera.

He looks good, maybe a little tired but very happy to see them.

Harry holds the phone out and everyone desperately tries to via for the desperate highly demanded space in view.

His greeting is answered by plenty of hello’s and hi’s as well as a very tired sounding, “Hi Papa!” from Addison followed by a wave and yawn.

“How was the drive?” Louis asks.

“Most of them slept,” Harry replies before anyone else.

“I didn’t!” Libby says proudly leaning over everyone to smile into the camera.

Louis looks shocked, “What! No family sing-a-longs then?”

“Well we didn’t have our leader,” Mackenzie says fondly hidden from camera.

Louis smiles because even though he couldn’t see her he knew her too well to think she would miss out on this.

“How was school?”

Addison practically jumps out of Harry’s lap at the mention of school shouting, “I painted you a picture! It’s you in a plane.”

“Where’s this picture?” Harry inquires because this is the first he has heard of it.

“Still drying,” Addison answers with a smile.

Louis face has lit up more now if that is even possible.

“You can give it to me on Friday then love. So are we all being good?”

The boys babble on for a bit about their adventures at school. Apparently they climbed more trees, Harry is pretty sure he is going to be getting a phone call about that sometime this week. When they finally finish Libby speaks up.

“We took bets on when we think dad will cry first!” Libby says proudly.

Louis laughs so much the camera shakes and it goes a bit blurry. All the kids join in and laugh as well, Harry just shakes his head.

“Am I aloud to take a guess Mackenzie?”

Mackenzie leans over Harry to look into the camera and says, “I don’t see why not.”

“Well did you set the table tonight?”

“No.”

“Then tomorrow night dinner, when my place doesn’t get set.”

The crowd gasps and there are murmurs of how good of an answer that is.

Mackenzie looks at the camera and says, “I changed my mind, you aren’t allowed to play.”

“Rules are rules Mac,” Harry laughs out.

“Fine, I wasn’t going to win anyway.”

She slumps back in her seat with arms folded and Louis says, “Well I think some people need to get some sleep.”

Harry hums in agreement, “Five little people in particular.”

“It’s been a long week.”

As if to punctuate Louis point Addison yawns and curls into Harry’s arm.

“Alright team Tommo, good night.”

There are a few sad faces and sniffles but most of the kids leave him with a happy little goodbye and promise they will talk to him tomorrow.

Then it’s off to bed they go. And Harry doesn’t admit it but he feels like he has a bit of a hole in his heart. It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet.

 

It would be a lie to say they all slept in on Saturday morning, it seems children are incapable of sleeping in. However Harry did stay in bed for longer than normal just with a few added people crowded around him. Which is nice considering it took him hours to fall asleep in an empty bed to which Louis was not sympathetic to, complaining Harry had an entire house of people would gladly warm up his bed when he had no one. 

He would have stayed in bed all day but Anne was persistent in reminding him she needed to see her grandbabies ‘NOW’ via numerous messages so into the car they went again.

It was exactly what he expected as soon as they arrived. Screaming, jumping, running and everything in between as six kids were let loose in their favourite place in the world. They ate lunch outside and the kids played football with Robin. Harry sort of maybe missed everything after that because he promptly fell asleep on the couch.

It was pretty standard then and not much changes over time.

He wakes up when his Mum shakes his shoulder saying softly, “Harry.”

He turns to his side, sleepy and rubbing his eyes.

“You’ve been asleep for two hours,” She says with a smile.

Oops, Harry thinks quickly. That is probably quite rude of him.

He sits up slowly, “Where’s Peyton?”

“Asleep upstairs don’t worry,” Anne says waving her hand off like it is nothing.

Harry quickly hopes she isn’t getting sick. He really doesn’t need that right now.

“Sorry,” Harry says softly. He really didn’t mean to turn up with all the kids and promptly fall asleep leaving them unattended.

Anne smiles and rolls her eyes, “Relax. You know what I'm like. The girls just finished making cookies and the boys are in the backyard, don’t panic the only thing you need to worry about is me possibly stealing them.”

It’s true. He will probably have to do a headcount before they leave to make sure she isn’t hiding one in the pantry.

Harry smiles and says, “Thanks.”

“We do need to talk though.”

Harry arches his eyebrows intrigued. Anne exhales and says, “Me and Louis have been talking.”

Harry laughs, “That always means trouble.”

“We need to talk about the Nanny situation Harry,” she says kindly with a hand on his shoulder.

Harry groans out and flops back onto the couch. He knew Louis would do this, bring his Mother into the whole debate.

“I knew he would do that. There isn't anything to talk about though.”

“He wants you to reconsider and I definitely agree with him.”

Harry covers his face and exhales.

“We aren’t talking day to day things, we are only talking about when you two really need help. Like right now.”

It’s annoying that Harry agrees with her.

They used to have a Nanny. It was kind of a necessity. Then Harry walked past one too many magazine stands and started doubting himself. Then having a full time Nanny was out of the options and out of the picture.

That is the thing though, you are content on living your life then some tabloid calls you a ‘Superficial Parent’ and you want to prove them and everyone else they were wrong. Harry knows he shouldn’t care so much but it just gets under his skin. It always has, he can push some things out but others, sometimes the littlest of things can get under his skin.

“You have half a dozen children. I know you two are capable of looking after them yourselves together, but love when you are alone-“

Harry goes to open his mouth but she stops him shaking her head and raising her hand.

“Even if it is only for a short while you might need a little bit of extra assistance and there is nothing wrong with that.”

Harry frowns.

“Just give it some thought,” she says with a kiss to his head like he himself is still a baby.

As if right on cue the baby monitor feeds them the sounds of Peyton crying.

 

They return late on Sunday, this time the car is entirely full with sleepyheaded children. It’s an hour in when Harry realises he is the only one awake. It was a good weekend then he figures. He snaps a picture when he parks in the garage in London, all six of them asleep and content. He sends it to Louis with the caption ‘home at last x’

 

On Friday it's five o’clock and for once the Tomlinson family is silent. Even Rocky isn’t barking and simply sits by the door occasionally wagging his tail letting it thump against the floor. Normally five o’clock on a Friday someone would be crying, someone would be laughing and the house would be in chaos.

Instead they all sit, neatly in a row in the stairs in the foyer. Harry in the middle, Peyton on his lap and the girls one side, the boys on the other. Occasionally someone munches a bit too loud on their cookie and Addison tells them to ‘Shh!’

It’s five past when Rocky’s tale starts hitting against the marble floor rhythmically and he lets out a bark. Addison is about to tell him to ‘Shh!’ when Harry whispers, “Listen.”

It’s as faint as anything but clearly the sound of a car in the driveway.

The chaos starts then. Everyone is talking, jumping up and down, shouting and vying for the best spot. However as soon as the door handle moves everyone goes silent again. Slowly but surely the door creeps open and someone squeals in delight.

And then there is Louis standing in the doorway smiling like anything, bags in hand.

“Hi,” he says barely containing his happiness.

It takes barely a second before he has small bodies being thrown at him and around his legs. He has to bend down to try and catch them all.

The only person too cool for a hug just yet is Mackenzie who waits her turn, unlike the others who just start attacking him. Harry included.

“I missed you so much,“ Libby says into his arm, she gets her hair fluffed up on top as a response and to be hugged just a little bit tighter.

Addison quickly slips out of the hug attack and runs over to where she had been sitting. Her little fingers grab the painting she had worked so hard on and she runs back over holding is proudly.

“Look papa! This is you,” She says pointing to the person in the plane in the sky, “And this is us,” she points to the family down on the green grass with sad faces.

Louis smiles at her and Harry watches on.

“I love it, “he says, “Shall we put in on the fridge?”

She nods furiously with a smile on her face.

After every child has peeled themselves off Louis reluctantly letting go Harry gets a real turn. Not one shared with six other people, just one between him and his husband.

“Hi,” Harry whispers just for Louis to hear.

“Hi yourself. I missed you,” Louis says as he holds him close. Sure, he has seen Harry’s face a lot in the last few days and heard his voice but feeling his heart beat and breath on his skin beats all of that combined.

Harry blushes like always, something just never change. The affect they have on each other is one of those little things. Harry kisses him slowly savouring the feeling of it. And he doesn’t let go of his hand for an hour, he just can’t help it. He doesn’t want to let go just yet.

And he is reminded that nothing makes him feel more whole then his family all being back together again under one roof.

 

It’s cold outside so Harry has got hot chocolate ready for when they come back inside. He bundles the littlest Tomlinson’s up in their jackets and hats despite their protests.  And they trudge outside with Rocky by their side to find their siblings and their papa.

It appears the game has already started though, the boys vs the girls with no one really sure who’s team Louis is supposed to be on. He seems to just be trying to help whoever is losing (and keep the peace).

“And lightning Liberity scores again!” He shouts as she gets one past her brother.

She falls to her knees and spreads her arms out wide while everyone claps and shouts.

“Thank you! Thank you!” she says as she takes a bow.

“You’re still not winning though!” Elliot laughs from the goal. 

She pokes her tongue out at her brother and says, “You try winning with Mackenzie as your team mate.”

Grayson shouts back, “Nope, you just can’t beat the dream team!”

His brother high fives him and Harry and Louis give each other the look. They try not to laugh about how their team name has been appropriated. They really don’t mind that much, Grayson and Elliot probably are a better team technically, all that identical twin stuffs.

“It doesn’t really matter now anyway, because Addison and Peyton are going to get a turn to play,” Louis smiles taking Peyton’s hand.

“Finally people in my league!” Mackenzie says dramatically.

Peyton is obsessed with the ball and repeatedly saying, “Papa ball! Ball papa!”

But she can’t really kick it and keeps missing so Louis does it for her. She also on the occasion just picks it up.

“Harry and Addison are on the girl’s team, me and Peyton are on the boys team.”

Libby groans, “We’re losing! Now you just gave us a death sentence.”

“I like your enthusiasm Libby," Harry says with an over enthusiastic smile patting her on the back of the head.

She smiles a bit at his sarcasm. Addison jumps up and down in her boots, “Yay the girl’s team! We're going to win.”

After that the game pretty much just consists of laughing. Addison repeatedly falls over trying to hit the ball. Peyton runs away carrying the ball. Mackenzie gives up because to quote herself, "I hate being on goal! Who put me on goal? I couldn’t save a goal to save my life!”

Harry instead takes over their goal and the boys think it’s the best thing in the world making him trip over himself. Louis agrees that it never gets old.  

Peyton ends up on Louis shoulders and they reclaim the dream team title.

Nobody is sure who wins because nobody keeps track of the score. It’s definitely the boys team but they wouldn’t admit it not wanting to make Addison, who gleefully asked if she had won, shed some tears.

They end up cuddled around the fire, hot chocolates warm in hand and free from their jackets and hats as soon as it is over, their toes getting thawed by the flames. 

“So are we all ready to cheer from the sidelines tomorrow now?” Louis asks his children.

They all nod back at him and Mackenzie says, “Team Tommo is always ready.”

 

It’s an early morning the morning Louis has the match. The kitchen is filled with sleepy faces and lots of tea. But like good little troops they solider on filled with butterflies in their stomachs over their very exciting day.  Harry headcounts six Tomlinson’s and six 17’s written on the backs of football jerseys and loads all them into the car.

 

“So we’re here with Harry Styles, so Harry how did you enjoy watching the game?”

Harry’s eyes widen comically. Elliot and Grayson repress giggles in their front row seats behind Harry knowing exactly what is coming next. Mackenzie covers her face with her hands in an effort to muffle her tragic, “Oh no, not again,” with her hands.

“It’s Harry Tomlinson.”

“Huh?” The clueless reporter asks with a smile holding the microphone out. 

“It’s Harry Tomlinson, I’m married.”

“Oh right, I’m sorry!”

Harry smiles. “It’s alright.”

Libby leans into her sister laughing. She says a bit too loudly, “No it isn’t.”

The dazed reporter tries to keep her composure asking, “So how did you enjoy watching the game?”

“It was great! I can’t believe they won, Louis played so well. We’re all so proud,” He says with a beaming smile he knows he will get laughed at for later and a bounce of Peyton on his hip who is trying to untie his headscarf and stick a finger in his ear. 

 

The kids can’t stop laughing in the back seat and Harry has his hands over his face.

Breathless and between laughs Libby says, “Gray you be the reporter!”

“Okay okay!” Grayson says from his seat.

“This is going to be good,” Louis says fondly keeping his focus both on driving and on listening to the kids. Plus, giving Harry his favourite crinkly eyed grin.

Mackenzie clears her voice, “I’ll be dad.”

“So we’re here with Harry STYLES, so Harry STYLES how did you like the game Harry STYLES?” Grayson says with a high pitched voice. He leans all over Mackenzie sitting next to him, batting his eyelashes and pouting his lips.

Mackenzie opens her mouth as wide as it will go and tries to make her eyes as big as possible. She looks ridiculously shocked and stares back and forth to her siblings making them laugh. She shoves Grayson off her lap and mouths to Addison, “Did she just?”

She looks to her right to Libby who says, “Oh no she didn’t!”

Harry watches them groaning loudly every time Louis laughs and every time the kids take that as bait to make it more dramatic. Mackenzie turns her attention back to Grayson. She plasters on her perfectly wide smile, looking as sweet and as innocent as ever.

“It’s Harry Tomlinson," she says batting her eyelashes but giving him a unwavering smile. 

“Huh? What?” Grayson says dramatically not paying attention.

Mackenzie bares her teeth, “It’s Harry. Harry Tomlinson. TOM-LIN-SON.”

She waves her left hand around as well pointing to her ring finger, “I’m married!” she shouts. 

Grayson rolls his eyes and lets out a long, “Ok,” punctuated with a sigh and eye roll.

Grayson and Mackenzie receive high fives from all of their siblings, even Peyton who thinks it's very funny. 

“That was a very dramatic retelling!” Harry moans from the passenger seat.

Louis places his hand on his thigh and says, “Babe we all know it was close to the truth we’ve all seen it.”

Harry pokes Louis in the side saying, “They all got dramatic genes from you.”

“I’m not denying that,” Louis laughs.

 

Harry and Louis would be lying if they said they never got nights out to themselves. They have great friends and their kids have way too many uncles and aunties to ever not have a babysitter. It is always nice when they do get a break, and the Brit’s is always a good excuse to have one because not only do they get to leave the kids at home but they get to do something they love (celebrate music and also brag in red carpet interviews). 

“So how many kids do you have now? I think I can say on behalf of all of Britain that it’s hard to keep count!” The smiley reporter says to Harry and Louis on the red carpet pre show interview.

Harry smiles wide. “Six. So half a dozen. Enough to fill a volleyball team. Quite the brood.”

Louis and the reporter laugh at him. Louis because he knows once someone gets Harry talking about them he won’t stop. She has opened the flood gates. The reporter because Harry is being Harry.

Harry looks into the camera and waves saying, “They are probably going to be watching this, Hi! Go to bed, please be goo and please feed the dog Mackenzie.”

Louis pulls Harry in closer and whispers in his ear, “She is going to hate you for that.”

Harry leans in closer again and says laughing quietly, “I know. That's the point."

The interviewer clears her throat. Whoops. They did that thing the publicist is always telling them not to do, isolating themselves, going into their own world and forgetting the people around them when they are supposed to be talking to reporters.

Louis says a quick sorry but she just laughs it off.

“So up for any awards tonight or are we just here to support friends?”

Harry smiles but shakes his head, “Just here for fun.”

Louis laughs grabbing Harry's arm and shaking his head, “Babe, you are up for that what do you call it award?”

Harry looks confused for a second. Louis waves his hand around, “Best lifetime achievement? Solo artist? Or was it collaboration?” he jokes with a grin.

Harry shrugs, "I thought that was you?" he jokes back with a wink. He really doesn't know or care. He is more worried about making sure Louis presenting goes well, the kids get to bed on time and Peyton's fever doesn't come back. It's probably a song he wrote for someone. He looks at the interviewer who is laughing and he shrugs. 

“We've got too many of these damn awards anyway, I swear the kids may as well use them as toys.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hello itiswhatitisbutterfly.tumblr.com x


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